Rep. Darrell Issa's And GOPâ€™S Witch Hunt Against Eric Holder

â€œFrom the beginning, Chairman Issa has distorted the facts, ignored the testimony, and flung inaccurate accusations at the attorney general and others,â€ a Holder spokesperson said.

[The Fleming Review]

Several FOX commentators have said Attorney General Eric Holder is a stubborn man. He refuses to resign and go away with his tail between his legs.

In this GOP political blitz against the Obama Administration where the goal is to embarrass, insult, and humiliate the first African-American Chief Executive by any means, the conservative wing of Congress are going after the Attorney General, a personal friend of the President, by insisting that Holder has told a series of lies and half-truths to impede their probe of the “gunwalking” scandal, Fast and Furious (F&F).

Knowing the target is President Obama rather than himself, Holder even tried to talk to House and Senate investigators early in the month and work out a compromise, but that deal crumbled when ardent House Republicans refused to drop the probe. Nothing Holder could do would satisfy the bloodthirsty members on the other side of the aisle. He has furnished nearly 8,000 documents to Capitol Hill. Republicans, including Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), the ranking minority of the Senate Judiciary Committee, believe there are secrets and conspiracies hidden in the tens of thousands of F&F documents – maybe even on the level of something of a Watergate or Contra-gate scandal.

The conservatives think President Obama and AG Holder are hiding something. Something smells, they say. The Obama Administration and Holder, after more than a year of hearings, had its chance to do the right thing but they played games and now they have to face the music, so goes the script. This week, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Cal.), head of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, got the job done against Holder for a contempt charge of Congress by 23-17, with voting along party lines.

Next week, the conflict with the Obama Administration will go to a full House vote, and yet some Republicans are still not satisfied. Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner (R- Wisc.) said “heads should roll” and called for possible impeachment of Obama officials. And House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) blasted Holder: “The Justice Department is out of excuses. Congress has given Attorney General Holder more than enough time to fully cooperate with its investigation.”

Let’s roll the clock back. Originally, the Fast and Furious scheme was an upgraded Bush program which expanded as an Obama project under the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives in 2009 and 2010, allowing 2,000 guns to be released to target and identify Mexican drug cartels. Hundreds of guns vanished during the process and others were used to murder a U.S. border agent. Holder testified before Congress on the program eight times and denied any department involvement.

But there is a nasty history between Holder and some conservative Congress members. They consider him to be “a hyper-politicized chief law enforcement officer” with a tendency to stress race-based issues. They didn’t like it when Holder recently spoke to a group of Black ministers and told them their right to vote was being threatened by people who wanted to purge Blacks and minorities.

They say he’s launching bogus federal lawsuits against states, with conservative governors, who are requiring photo IDs in order for people to vote. They accused Holder of looking the other way when a group of Black thugs threatened White voters outside a Philadelphia polling site. As proof of his activism views, they point to a book by former U.S. Attorney J. Christian Adams, “Injustice: Exposing the Racial Agenda of the Obama Justice Department," which speaks openly of racist practices when Blacks were involved in voter fraud and intimidation.

AG Holder’s team has pushed back against the contempt charge and the call for a special prosecutor, even in light of President Obama’s declaring Executive Privilege. “From the beginning, Chairman Issa has distorted the facts, ignored the testimony, and flung inaccurate accusations at the attorney general and others,” a Holder spokesperson said.

This business is not finished because the GOP assault against the Obama Administration will continue. If the full House votes in favor of the Holder contempt charge, then the matter will be turned over to a local U.S. Attorney and will probably be buried. For the Republican strategists and their surrogates, this Holder matter might not score hugely for them, but there are other openings and another occasion to tarnish the President.